Infant&#39;s syringe



Feb. 22, 1938. M E BURKE 2,109,059

INFANT S SYRINGE Filed Aug. 26, 1955 JNVEN TOR.

Patented Feb. 22, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvement in method of administering enemata to infants, the principal object of the invention being provision of a means of administering enemata to infants in an efficacious and safe manner. The device used heretofore consists of a hard rubber nozzle approximately two inches in length connected with a compressible bulb and acts by forcing liquid through the nozzle by pressure on the bulb; when employed it emits liquid in forceful spurts in the vicinity of the rectal sphincter thus effecting an almost immediate expulsion of the liquid, and the rigid nozzle tends to injure the soft tissues of anus and. rectum.

My invention, comprising an open container preferably in the form of a funnel the tubular end of which is continuous with or is joined to an eduction tube of flexible material approximately twenty inches over all provides an improvement in method more particularly in allowing emission of a slow continual stream beyond the area of the irritable rectal sphincter thereby resulting in an effective enema inasmuch as liquid thus introduced into the rectum is not immediately expelled, and. in avoiding abrasion or other injury to the tissues of anus and rectum because of flexibility of the penetrating tube. A disc or flange preferably slightly convex toward the free end of the tube in a fixed position at approximately three inches from the free end of the tube prevents insertion of the tube beyond a safe distance into the rectum.

My invention, its structural features, and the advantages residing there-in will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which is a view of my syringe for infants.

In carrying out my invention I provide a funnel I which is continuous with or is joined to a tube 2 the length over all being approximately twenty inches. This open construction of itself permits the application of no force other than that of gravity upon the liquid passing through the device. The extremity of the tube 2 tapers slightly to an open end 3 at a short distance from 5 which is a longitudinal opening 4 in the wall of the tube. The small capacity of funnel and tube, the head of approximately seventeen inches, and the two outlets 3 and 4 combine to produce a low speed of flow from the syringe. Integral with the tube at approximately three inches from the free end 3 of the tube, located between the longitudinal opening 4 and the funnel I is a disc or flange 5 slightly convex toward the free end 3 of the tube which prevents insertion of the tube beyond the point of the fixed position of the disc or flange.

Certain changes may be made in the arrangement and construction of various parts without departing from the intent of my invention and it is my purpose to cover by my claim such changes as reasonably may be included within the scope thereof.

I claim:

An infants rectal syringe comprising an opentop fluid container having attached at its lower end a flexible conduit of substantial length and relatively small substantially uniform diameter, said conduit terminating in an open. end forming a flexible syringe nozzle, and an insertion- 0 limiting enlargement formed on said conduit at a determinate position approximately three inches from the nozzle end, the dimensions and relative proportions of the various parts of the syringe being such as to permit a maximum hydrostatic pressure head of not more than approximately seventeen inches to be applied in administering nemata, said syringe having a one-piece, inseparable, integral structure of the same flexible material throughout.

MYRA EMERY BURKE. 

